Stick drift is inevitable on most controllers due to the potentiometers used in the thumbsticks wearing out.
What Is Stick Drift?
This can manifest in games as unwanted movement, affecting any analog stick input.
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Analog joysticks typically use a potentiometer to measure input on the X and Y axis.
Potentiometers measure the change in voltage based on the location of a sliding contact within the mechanism.
When the contact becomes worn or dirty, this voltage reading becomes unreliable.
Tim Brookes / How-To Geek
This can cause the “neutral” position of the stick to shift.
Damage can cause stick drift, particularly liquid spills and excessive force being placed on a stick.
Over time, you may notice sticks beginning to drift in the most commonly actuated direction.
Is Your Controller (or Console) Under Warranty?
This is especially true if the controller has been used heavily.
The first thing you should investigate is whether or not your controller is still under warranty.
For most, this will be a one-year warranty from the date of purchase.
If the controller was purchased separately, dig out your receipt and check your coverage.
Don’t charge the controller while you’re doing this either.
Using Windows?
To do this, launch Control Panel then press Devices and Printers.
From here follow the prompts to calibrate your controller.
If you use Steam you’ve got the option to also run a controller calibration.
To do this, launch Steam and get in, then enable Big Picture Mode.
pick the tweaks “cog” followed by the “Controller tweaks” option.
If Steam detects your controller you’ll be given the option to “Calibrate” it.
you’ve got the option to also manually adjust the dead zone of each stick in this menu.
Increase this to potentially bypass small unwanted inputs at the cost of overall precision and sensitivity.
By increasing thedead zone, you’re free to ignore these inputs and effectively counter the stick drift.
Unfortunately, you’ll also reduce sensitivity.
You’ll need to do this on a per-game basis, and many games may lack the option entirely.
There’s also a video from the channel focusing entirely on theXbox Elite Series 2 controller.
Fix Stick Drift on a Switch Joy-Con or Pro Controller
Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift is well-documented.
iFixit has guides forLeftorRightJoy-Con stick replacement,LeftorRightSwitch Lite joystick replacement, and Nintendo SwitchPro Controller joystick replacement.
For now, check out ourtop recommended game controllersfor playing console, PC, and retro games.
